Duofold MacArthur Limited Edition

Many thanks to you all for the suggestons. I'll look to post.

BTW, it's new and unused. I think that there less than 2000 of them
manufactured.

Have a great weekend.

"YRC1" wrote in message
le.rogers.com...
Hi:

I have this pen and was thinking of selling it. Can anyone please give me
some idea of where I can post it (other than eBay) and what it's
approximate
value would be.

Many thanks.

Lou

YRC1 wrote:
Many thanks to you all for the suggestons. I'll look to post.

BTW, it's new and unused. I think that there less than 2000 of them
manufactured.

Have a great weekend.

Yep... 1945 of them to correspond to the year MacArthur participated in
the signing of the surrender documents between Japan and the Allies. The
mint MacArthurs are bringing $750 or thereabouts. That should give you
a reasonable place to start. Good luck... Bernadette

Marten van de Kraats wrote:

"BLandolf" wrote:

What would you estimate a used
MacArthur is going to bring in the current market?

Whatever the highest bidder is willing to pay.

LOL This is so funny. Using this rule of thumb (which, of course,
would be true if all transactions occurred in auctions), every pen on
the market would have exactly the same ex ante value (WTHBIWTP)
regardless of the pen, its condition, etc. So, if Lou's pen is mint in
the box, we tell him he can expect to get WTHBIWTP. If it is used, was
run over by a Mac truck, and then extruded through a post office sorting
machine, we tell him exactly the same thing... you can expect to get
WTHBIWTP. Although true in theory, WTHBIWTP is totally useless to
anyone who wants to sell something outright or get an idea of where to
set the reserve in an auction.

I am not going to guess, I don't have a clue and don't wanna know. My
initial posting wasn't a response to his enquiry but a response to
your first posting: I had trouble understanding the logic behind what
you were saying. But now I understand the theory behind it.

The only theory behind it is that approximate value can be determined by
knowledge of the marketplace... and that goes for modern and vintage
pens. --- Regards, Bernadette

"BLandolf" writes:

I was busting your chops.

And not exactly adding to the feeling of community in the newsgroup.

"BLandolf" writes:

Marten van de Kraats wrote:

"BLandolf" wrote:

What would you estimate a used MacArthur is going to bring in the
current market?

Whatever the highest bidder is willing to pay.

LOL This is so funny. Using this rule of thumb

But that is how it works in every sale, every time, in every form of
commerce whether an auction or a supermarket. It explains why
Wal-Mart outsells Norstrom's and Toyota outsells Mercedes. However,
auctions have a difference.

The main dynamic difference is that in an auction it is the buyers who
are competing, rather than the sellers who are the competitors in a
normal marketplace- hence the winner of almost any auction is the
person who is willing to overpay.

Collecting of any sort has a further difference. This is clearly
seen in fountain pen collecting, where the value is set by fantasy
rather than reality- something Krone in particular has mastered. The
artificiality of the "limited edition" exploits this tendency to the
fullest.

But whatever turns your crank. I buy pens to write with, not to keep
them skrink wrapped in a climate controlled storage vault and being
unable to enjoy them in actual use. Other people will think I'm a
silly stick in the mud who just doesn't "get it." They'd be right.

"Tim McNamara" wrote in message
...
It explains why
Wal-Mart outsells Norstrom's and Toyota outsells Mercedes.

Yeah, but it doesn't explain why Porsche is the most profitable auto
manufacturer.
Richard

"Tim McNamara" wrote:

"BLandolf" writes:

I was busting your chops.

And not exactly adding to the feeling of community in the newsgroup.

Oh just can it.

Tim McNamara wrote:

Marten wrote:
Whatever the highest bidder is willing to pay.

LOL This is so funny. Using this rule of thumb

But that is how it works in every sale, every time, in every form of
commerce whether an auction or a supermarket. ...

And I suppose you negotiate price on every single item you buy in a
supermarket every time you walk into a supermarket because price cannot
be set ex ante, eh, Tim? In fact, supermarkets don't even bother putting
price stickers on items because it's impossible to determine what buyers
are likely to pay for an item until they express their preferences.
Damn! I just paid $10.95 for a calzone... I should have offered the guy
$3.00 for it. Look, the what-the-buyer-is-willing-to-pay response is, to
some extent, a truism... but it is so general that it's useless when
applied to any particular transaction. In addition, it fails to consider
the other price constraint, namely, the price a seller is willing to
accept. A market price for any good is the result of **two** competing
forces... sellers and buyers. Which one has the upper hand will be
determined by a lot of factors. In many cases (not all obviously) it's
possible, armed with knowledge of the market, to estimate value before
the transaction takes place. --- Bernadette

"BLandolf" writes:

"Tim McNamara" wrote:

"BLandolf" writes:

I was busting your chops.

And not exactly adding to the feeling of community in the
newsgroup.

Oh just can it.

Oh, why, yes ma'am. Anything you say, ma'am. Will that be all,
ma'am?

"BLandolf" writes:

Tim McNamara wrote:

Marten wrote:
Whatever the highest bidder is willing to pay.

LOL This is so funny. Using this rule of thumb

But that is how it works in every sale, every time, in every form
of commerce whether an auction or a supermarket. ...

And I suppose you negotiate price on every single item you buy in a
supermarket every time you walk into a supermarket because price
cannot be set ex ante, eh, Tim?

Argumentum ad absurdum, eh?

In fact, supermarkets don't even bother putting price stickers on
items because it's impossible to determine what buyers are likely to
pay for an item until they express their preferences.

We must shop in different grovery stores. The price for each item is
very evident at mine.

Damn! I just paid $10.95 for a calzone... I should have offered the guy
$3.00 for it. Look, the what-the-buyer-is-willing-to-pay response is, to
some extent, a truism... but it is so general that it's useless when
applied to any particular transaction. In addition, it fails to consider
the other price constraint, namely, the price a seller is willing to
accept. A market price for any good is the result of **two** competing
forces... sellers and buyers.

Ye-es. But in the normal marketplace the seller competes with other
sellers for buyers. That's not the case here, in which the seller
hopes to create competition among many buyers, driving the price up
to hopefully absurd heights. It's rather hilarious when we're
talking about new mass-produced goods, don't you think?

Which one has the upper hand will be determined by a lot of
factors. In many cases (not all obviously) it's possible, armed with
knowledge of the market, to estimate value before the transaction
takes place.

To a degree, but of course with auctions it is only within a general
range. The problem here is that price of collector item pens is not
remotely set in accordance with production cost. For a pen like the
one that started this thread, it's likely that the packaging costs as
much or more to produce than the pen. Why is this a $750 pen? Not
because of the cost of production, but because an artificial scarcity
was created (and in the case of many "limited edition" pens, that
scarcity is illusory as well as artificial).

The cost of food at the supermarket is determined by the costs of
production, transportation and distribution plus profit at each step
(except for the farmer, who frequently loses money especially raising
animals for the likes of Tyson or Smithfield, who tend to hold
extortionary contracts with producers). That cost is also minus
taxpayer subsidies in many cases, or food would cost more at the
checkout. The cost of a car is determined by cost of production plus
margin. In the case of pens, market cost is frequently determined by
the marketing department and is orders of magnitude above actual cost
of production- $350 for a pen that cost about $20 to make. This of
course has all been discussed before ad nauseum.

But like I said, whatever turns your crank. Anyone who enjoys having
shrink wrapped pens still in the box, that they've neer seen, held or
God forbid written with, is welcome to 'em. And they can be happy to
have one less competitor driving up the bid price, too.